Forgery investigations rise with realty sector growth in Karnataka

10% annual rise in document verification requests

Bengaluru: State-run forensic science laboratories are attending to a large number of document verification requests, especially related to forgery in land deals, and there is a gradual increase in such cases, according to data accessed by DH.

There has been at least a 10% year-on-year increase in document verification cases handled by FSLs since 2023. In 2023, they received close to 900 such requests and this increased to 1,034 in 2024. This year, 663 cases have been recorded so far.

While FSL officials said they didn’t have the data for the years preceding 2023 owing to huge pendency, sources said the cases have nearly doubled in the last five years.

Back in 2020, FSLs would receive 500 such requests annually and this has now increased to an average of 1,000, the sources said.

The state forensic science laboratory is situated in Bengaluru and there are six regional FSLs based in Belagavi, Davangare, Hubballi, Kalaburagi, Mangaluru and Mysuru.

Owing to an increase in real estate frauds and rampant land grabbing, majority of the cases handled by the FSLs pertain to verification of land documents.

Officials also said more people are approaching the labs due to an increase in awareness.

“Majority of the document verification cases we receive are related to land disputes. We get documents such as agreements, sale deeds and general power of attorney (GPA). We also get cases from civil courts,” said Divya V Gopinath, director, State Forensic Science Laboratory.

Apart from cases related to forgery of land documents, laboratories examine cases of cheque forgery and discrepancies in account books and documents of societies and associations.

Recently, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said his department has asked officials to approach forensic labs if they have a slight doubt about the authenticity of any document.

Owing to the increase in cases, pendency over the years had shot up to over 1,000 and the FSLs were taking around a year to submit reports. In the last few years, to attend to the increasing caseload, the labs have increased their staff strength. This has brought down the turnaround time significantly, officials said.

“Now, we give out the reports in just one month. When a case is flagged as important, we expedite the process to submit the report in less than a month,” Divya added.

At present, the FSL has only 99 pending cases.

Document verification cases at FSLs 2023: 9142024: 1,0342025 (till July): 663

A majority of the document verification cases we receive are related to land disputes. We get documents such as agreements sale deeds and general power of attorney (GPA). We also get cases from civil courts Divya V Gopinath director State FSL